Character Startup Guide
This guide aims to take a character from the start of the game to a medium/high level. It's basically a power-leveling guide, and as such is oriented to both the new player and the "hardcore" character creator. It also includes a "road map" of sorts aimed at quickly getting all Skills and Powers that can be obtained without embarking on a long chain of adventures, thereby leaving you free to explore. An effort has been made to explain or link each game concept the first time it's used. Warnings * This guide is FULL of spoilers from this point onwards. Read it at your own risk. * This guide is written for AG players. Although some advice will be of use to non-AG players, there is a specific Non-AG Startup page. * It's strongly recommended to try the game first without help so that you don't miss out on the fun of discovering things for yourself. After that you can do it "better" (or at least quicker) with a second character. Many long-time players have gone this route. *Quests are mentioned, not explained. In case some quest is not linked, you can search for it in the Quest List. *Useful equipment will be listed along with the adventure it's earned in. *This guide does not cover all adventures, and in fact skips as many of them as possible to achieve quickness. *This guide is not in any way meant to be complete, nor authoritative. Check the Game Updates for changes that could have made these strategies and approaches invalid and/or suboptimal. General playing tips * In a mechanical way of thinking, this game is all about 3 resources: Gold, Experience (from now on, XP) and Adventurers Tokens (from now on, AT). There is an almost infinite amount of Gold and XP in the game, only limited by your availability of time to dedicate to Grinding. However, there is a hard limit on how many AT you can get without donating (all sources should be listed on the AT page, along with the rewards for donating). There is also a Battle Markers resource being shaped, but for the moment it's not central to gameplay. * Getting more gold is (relatively) quick and easy. From a certain point in the game, you will simply have too much gold, so it shouldn't be a worry. Spend it liberally, but reserve something like 10,000 - 25,000 gold tokens just in case (some quests may require significant quantities of gold). To learn how to get gold, go to Item Selling Guide. See also Gold. * You will (always) need more XP. "Completing" your character (level up to 100 in all Skills and Powers) is a grueling task, only fit for heavy grinders. So far, only a few adventurers have reached this point. This guide tries to optimize your earnings of XP. * XP comes in two "flavours": General and Specific. You can use General Experience to level up any Skill or Power. You can only use Specific Experience to level up the Skill or Power it's associated with. There is also a third type of Experience reward: experience to All Skills and Powers (AS&P). This reward gives Specific Experience to all the skills and powers your character has, so 128 XP to AS&P can mean from 128 XP (if you have only 1 skill) to 3712 XP (with all current 18 skills and 11 powers). This example should make clear why we want to have as many skills and powers as we can, as early as we can, to make all of these bonuses be the largest possible. There is an additional reason: the Quickstone. * One of the powers of the Quickstone is to give your character a bonus of 10% of the XP earned. This includes General as well as Specific, so the more Skills and Powers you have, the bigger the Quickstone bonus for an AS&P XP award. * "Purists" try not to do any adventure that gives AS&P XP until they have most or all skills and powers. Here we will take an approach a little bit more relaxed, making some of them early for their AT rewards. * Upgrade your skills and powers whenever possible, but (if possible) use only Specific XP. Save General XP (around 20,000 to 50,000 general XP should be enough) to buy big things (there are several items that require significant amounts of General XP to "level up"), and as a reserve to be able to level up a needed skill or power just before the adventure that requires it. * Whenever you gain some AT, spend them well in Tallys. You can always get them back by paying a small amount of gold. Don't hesitate to change equipment as many times as necessary. * Enemies difficulty will be related to your MR and SP (See Combat). As you progress through the game, MR starts being less important than SP. * Remember to always be fully loaded with 3 Blessings of Protection and a few Runes of Life. Specific tips for the early game * Ignore most advice above: you need to spend your gold and XP, and spend it well. Also, you may be too poor at the start of the game for BoP to be cost-effective. * The key to more MR/SP lies on items. On the early game you'll be changing your equipment frequently. * Don't forget to check each piece of armor against the one you're wearing before selling it. Always keep the best pieces. * At low levels, the skills are very cheap to train. Try to raise them to around 30, as that's level they start being useful. * At low level, MR is the stat to raise. Your MR might even be higher than your SP. About MR/SP 80, this will change, and you will need more SP than MR for most cases. * Remember to change your equipment to suit your needs - if the enemies are 3+ to hit, or it's a scaled scenario, focus on SP and NvR instead of MR. * Simple rule for selling: if true value below 300 gold (most things), Grutlang's trading post in Mirgspil. If higher, either Graldok or Gryphook's * At low levels, quests are better sources of gold and XP than grinding. * Check Kingdom of Tysa for the full expanded map of all in-game locations and how to reach them. * Buy a mount as soon as possible to make your travels quicker. Those will be your best spent 6,000 gold. * Start saving General XP from the start and up to 16,000 XP, that way acquiring Powers will be much quicker. New Guide ;Note I'm merging with my previous one, and changing the order to take into account the best items available at each moment. Game start * Register for the game * Become AG as soon as possible (there are bonuses if you upgrade the day you register for the game). * You can roll your character before upgrading to AG, but don't start playing until you've upgraded that character. Non-AG characters can't access the startup Scenarios, and one of them is extremely convenient. * A common strategy is to create several characters and play all of them more or less at the same time. One of them (the best equipped, the most played) is the "main", while the others are "secondaries". There are several advantages of doing this: ** You can playtest new adventures with the secondaries before running the main through them, thus maximizing your earnings and reducing your mistakes. This is specially important in the Proving Grounds, where each defeat counts. ** You can benefit of the limited time adventures' rewards (specially, the valuable AT) with the secondaries, thus easing their future adventures once you grow tired of your main and switch to them as new mains. ** You can play the single-run content several times (and the game is worth it) * Try to get your stats as high as possible. The XP Bonus of your characters (derived from their stats) is very important in the long run. You should aim to a 30% XP bonus to powers, 30% at Weaponry, and at least 25% to everything else. But don't worry, you don't have to get an impossible "all 20's" roll for this, you can later raise some of your stats to meet the requirements for these bonuses. In the XP Bonus article you can find advices on "perfect" and "near-optimal" combinations of stats. You can also use some of the XP Calculators to this end. * You should have as high a starting Melee Rating (MR) and Stamina Points (SP) as you can get (The max you can roll is 32 MR/36 SP after bonuses from your Stats). Contrary to near-perfect stats, this is relatively easy to get. * Pick Arcana, Diplomacy, Thievery, and Unarmed Combat as your starting skills. Put 17 into one skill (one with a 25% rather than a 30% bonus) and 1 into each of the other three. Thievery is one of the most commonly checked skills in the game, and a high (70+) Diplomacy is extremely helpful in a few particular situations later in the game. Also, with Unarmed Combat, these are the only abilities that are available only at character creation or at the Adventurers' Collective for a ruinous price. Arcana is a good selection among the rest to ensure you get all skills ASAP. * Pick Restoration as your starting power. It is better than an attack power because Restoration helps you get through a bunch of adventures where you can't rest. Also, having it from the start helps you to get all skills as soon as possible. * From the Startup Scenarios, choose . Give the blue glowing stone back to get a NR amulet ( ) and the Necromancy power. Part 1, Scavenger Hunt If you've followed this guide about good Stats, you'll have around MR 37 and SP 42. You'll start with 128 General XP, 2000 Gold and 0 AT. Now, as you start, you get a bonus for upgrading the character to AG: 2,048 General XP, 4,000 gold and 8 AT You're in Hawklor, so go to the small windowless building with a blue door and get the and your special XP bonus (another 3,072 General XP). If you subscribed to the AG on the same day you created your account, you'll also have an additional special bonus pack available (16 AT, 5,000 gold and 4,000 General XP) Only one of your characters can claim it, so make sure you claim it with the char you plan to make your main. We won't take these amounts into account on this guide. ---- ;Detour - your first daily duty. In order to later access a really powerful item, SAVE, travel to Southern Tysa and find the Crimson-Helmed Rider. Refuse to fight him and just roll the dice. Quit the game before you encounter the Rider's parting gift. Do this every day as your first Sryth task. The initial and primary purpose for this (at this point in the game) is to gain access to the town of Moonpath, by visiting him once a day for seven consecutive days (if you miss one day, you'll have to restart the sequence, until the number on the back of his hand shows "7'''"). Once you've unlocked Moonpath, you can stop your daily visits to the CHR. Check there for the instructions on The Cave of the Ice Troll, whose final reward will be the . Since you will need '''at least 43 real-world days to obtain it (7 days for the CHR, and 36 runs of the Cave of the Ice Troll), you're better off starting early. ---- Back in Hawklor, visit the shop of Irzynn the Outfitter and take his sample wares. Then travel to Durnsig and visit Irzynn's cottage to get and the . Equip your new items. Buy your small dwelling and then return to Irzynn's for some valuable information. On your dwelling ( place), train Necromancy and Restoration to 30. There's no need for more, so save your XP, you're going to need it soon. Go back to Hawklor. Clean for gold and XP. Now travel to Trithik. Do the adventure - Using Necromancy level 30 makes this a very quick quest. Abandon and repeat this quest until you Knights Leggings are the best option. Both and are good choices too, but you'll find good replacements for them soon. deserves a mention since it's one on the best stat-improving "free" items in the game, although you probably won't need it. Now you're in Trithik, move over to Blade Square and find Criveson's Fur & Fletching among the buildings flanking the square. Buy the Archery skill and a Short Bow. This will be your bow forever, or almost: once you have gold to spare, you can buy one of Zumryn's s, but that's hardly required Now unequip all your SP-only equipment, and any other equipment needed to get you SP below 50 so you get the maximum rewards from . If your SP is 50 or less, then you'll get combat XP of 9, 17, 33, 65, 129, 257 for the six rounds. Higher SP gives lower rewards. And it's all general XP since you don't yet have any weaponry skills. Remember to dress yourself when you're done. Note: MR 59 / SP 54 still gave full rewards Go back into Hawklor, head to the Stoneback Tavern and encounter the man with the Painted Face and Mirew Piperen before entering. Start A Blizzard in the Hills and explore until you find the Icy Cave. Pick up your 4 AT. With these 16 AT you'll be able to buy your first Tallys' tabard, the . Make your first visit to Tallys. Buy the . It will be your first and durable shield. If you have extra AT (from donating or the special bonus) you may opt for the for extra SP, or other items, but assuming a "standard" adventurer, the shield is your first choice. With your first Tallys item on you, you can visit Tallys' small cottage and learn about quest, so you'll later breeze through Tarkhald Crypt. Move over to Northern Trithik and do Lyrelocke Monastery. Afterwards, talk to Brother Kol and learn Weaponry and Weaponry: Bashing. Visit Thofyra's Training Yard to learn your favorite Weaponry Subskill (probably Weaponry:Slashing because of Goblindoom). Train Weaponry and Weaponry:Slashing to 40. You'll have enough General XP, and probably will even have some extra XP left. Anyway, better train each one to 30 and then increase it to 40. This will allow you to increase your MR in 10 points for little more than 2,000 XP. While you're in Western Tysa, drop by Mirgspil and clean for a good amount of gold, and the . Subdue Nespii the Thief for the quest, she'll give you a ring whose only use is earning more gold. With all this gold, plus the starting one, plus selling the Gold Cup of Zaafyl to Bryniver (train Diplomacy to 10+ or 20+ before), you'll have enough to buy the Hale Blade (or a mount, if you prefer it). Sell any surplus items (lower than 325 gold) in Grutlang's Trading Post. Go back to Durnsig. Equip your best items, and SAVE. Now, do - level 30 Necromancy can get you through this easily, There's a trick you can use to drop the MR difficulty of the fight by equipping Goblindoom just before combat, and unequipping it after the battle. If you use only Necromancy in combat, you will get quite a lot of specific XP, which would help you to level it a little more, maybe even to 40. This quest will give you your first cape: the . The shield is also useful. You can sell the rest of the items for gold. Now for some easy adventures. (now you're well-equipped they will be even easier) Equip your new items, and then do the other Hawklor micro-quests: , , , and (this one for gold). EXPLORE Hawklor. You should be strong enough to beat all the content. Your main objective now is the . Purist Warning: You might want to avoid completing the Solitary Grave (64 AS&P XP) With the Seven Knight's items, , , and the equipped, you should have around MR 52 and SP 56 - more than enough to get through (although you will be more comfortable with more SP, since it's a long quest with multiple fights) - The best items are Dragonwing Breastplate, Varkyn's Trick Ring, Nimble Plate Boots (Leather works, but Plate is better), and Warlord's Helm. It is highly recommended that you take one of these and not a weapon. Before we leave the Hart Hills, visit Kolnia and buy the Rusty Sword from the peddler. Travel to Mirgspil and sell your loot, and then move over to Trithik. Store your best chest armour pieces to do the adventure . Necromancy level 30 and Archery level 1 will get you through this, and you gain a very nice Ring Breastplate. At this point you have SP of at least 75, and depending on how lucky you've been in caves while exploring, you might already be over 80 SP. Part 2, The quest for skills Have random encounters in Trithik until you find a man being pursued by some grey tunnelers. He's Borimm Locksong, and can teach you Woodsmanship. Be sure to revisit him until he refuses to train you anymore (you'll need a total of 208 experience to reach Woodsmanship 20). Travel to Port Hallik and do The Silver Crown so you can learn Seamanship from The Eye of the SeaYou can later get up to +4 in Seamanship from repeated visits to the Eye of the Sea. The best moment to do this is at Seamanship 47. Don't visit Gull Street yet. Save before doing this. Explore Bentlimb Wood until you find Toribikk, The Ancient Dhormu and learn Lore. It may fail sometimes, if that happens, reload and repeat. Use the generous Specific XP reward to level up Arcana, Lore and Woodsmanship. You can level up Restoration now, too, or wait until you've completed Stoneback Hill and have access to the additional 10% experience bonus granted by the Grey Circle. Return to Trithik and visit the The Griffon's Ledge Alehouse. Have a refreshing drought of Charna Ale and do The river pirates. You want the 121 Raven's Foot Medallion. Do not sell it, you'll need it later. Visit Thofyra's Training Yard in Talinus to learn the rest of the Weaponry sub-skills for 256 general XP each (Weaponry: Slashing, Weaponry: Hacking, Weaponry: Stabbing, and Weaponry: Polearms) At this point, you have 9 of the 10 'basic' skills, and all of the 'basic' weaponry sub-skills. And you have two powers. You're only missing: Horsemanship, Weaponry:Lances (both available at Saarngard Isle, much later), Weaponry:Troll-bont (from PG IV) and Weaponry:Staves (available only through the Adventurer Collective. Time to do your first adventure granting XP to All Skills and powers (128 AS&P XP). If you're trying to save this adventure for when you have all Skills and Powers, don't. You can't get all Powers without doing this Adventure. Travel back to Trithik and do The Secret of Stoneback Hill - This is a scaled scenario easily completed with 75+ SP and the Black Steel Axe given to you during the quest. * It seems to me that the Axe deals out significantly more specials if you're wearing the Black Stone On Chain and the Black Pearl Bracelet The effect is big enough that it's worth the SP lost by not wearing the Dragonclaw Amulet. * The previous report has not yet been confirmed and should be taken with caution. When done, review your stats and decide which one to increase with the Elixir Of The Torrent. You may want to check the XP Bonus article again. Do not read the Tattered Scroll until you have all 10 basic powers. Part 3, The quest for powers The first objective of this section is to gather enough general XP to buy 5 powers from the Grey Circle in Talinus. Keep in mind the admittance fee is 1000 - (number of powers you possess*75) gold. You'll need 1024 + 2048 + 3072 + 4096 + 5120 = 15360 general XP. You can, of course, buy the powers one by one, but it's quicker to do the whole lot at once. However, don't learn Elementalism, since you'll get that at . desirable powers include Gating or Illusion for combat (irresistible), and Fortification or Divination as they are frequently useful in quests. Telekinesis has a couple of unique quests applications. You probably won't want to get Conjuration at all, leave it for the Murk. Go to Deadwater Shoals and start The Ghost Ship. When you return to Talinus, use Thievery when getting the wand from Yirrsin. While here, do Sleepless Night for the and for the Now to Kyul-Thanor. "Explore Talinus" for "Larksong Way" to start the quest. Explore Talinus again for "forest statue". Sneak up to investigate (Thievery helps a lot) for quickest route. Then come back to Lothren by exploring Talinus for "Penekarn Lane". Pay Wenreald the fence to see his useless toy (and get him out of the way), then come again for Lothren. You'll unlock the path to Kyul-Thanor from Talinus' main screen. Do for (gold source, Gryphook's), (+3 NvR) and above all (+3 MR, +3 SP). After this, do for (+1 MR, +1 SP). Now to get huge amounts of gold and the : The Hunt for the Phantom Assassin. ;Uncle Scrooge's note: scrounge 20k gold You may save a good amount of money not buying the Weaponry subskills now. Weaponry:Staves can cost 42500 gold if bought the last one. If you manage to get Weaponry:Staves now (without Weaponry Subskills), it'll cost 27500 gold. The less it can possibly cost is 10000 gold. Plus, it will cost you 10,000 gold and 8 AT to join the AC. To get the AT back, you have to beat the Hall of Seven Ghouls in Axepath Cemetery (final enemy 9+ at MR 125, 250 SP) * Do and sell the loot. Even more gold: . The cheapest way to get rich: after Westwold, go to Talinus's Weapon Market. Barlin will appear. Beat the location of the dragon's lair out of him. You can repent and recover your lost alignment by kneeling in the pool of Talinus Cathedral. Save. Go to the lair, use Thievery on the treasure chest, Hide (Thievery) and rob from the dragon (Thievery once more). Escape rich and un-singed, try to get (+2 NvR) If you have XP to spare leveling up Archery, you can win 500 gold by doing , but you'll save more by not getting Archery until you get Weaponry:Staves You can earn 500 General XP, 1000 gold and 8 AT by clearing saga for an obscene amount of gold and many interesting items, some of them sellable for even more gold. will net you good gold, combat XP, some armor (might be useful or to-sell, depending on previous choices) and the (+5 NvR) for 1000 gold (1500 with Diplomacy) and 512 General XP. Miscellaneous Go North to Port Hallik and visit Gull Street. Use Diplomacy (you shouldn't have trained it yet) and fail, then Telekinesis and succeed. Gain a loose end. Do The Wounded Horseman part one, but not parts two and three. Do the miscellaneous Talinus Quests: A healing hand, A barmaid's honor, Captain Jodd Roleks, Salwyn the priest, Hudlark the Fox, A juggler with two accomplices, and Guards vs. Rogues. Visit Tryndmoor and do The Silver Dragon Statue and Terror in Greenmarsh quests. Do all the miscellaneous quests that don't give out AS&P around Tysa: Giants 1 & 2 and Rough Night in Hawklor, the various adventures in the Stonehills, the Mirgspil quests, the Silver Crest and Dusk Dragon Egg and Slime Ant Hive in Trithik, the Tasks from Thane Pyrond, various mini quests in bars about the realm, EXPLORING for 64 or 96 xp each time you find a cave, etc... You'll come very close to getting all your powers without having to do any AS&P quests with a bit of grinding Explorable areas and possibly doing a few of the ;'weaker' AS&P quests * The Merchant of Bones, * A Little Matter About an Orb * Mezaryl's Cellar. One possibility is to clear the cellar at The Goblinclaw Inn to open up Lift the Box. I like to turn over the bracelet and take Iakor's Wristband after the Runeskin saga. Once you've gained XP to buy six powers (at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7K XP each), or five powers (at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5K XP each if you got Necromancy from the startup scenario) then move on to visit Graldok and do Daggerspire. Complete the The Murk and do A Journey into the Murk. At this point you should have all powers except Shadow Magic. Reward yourself by visiting your residence in Trynd Keep, kicking back by the fire, and reading the Tattered Scroll. Part 4, If you're a purist Getting those last few Skills and Powers is hard without doing AS&P quests. This part of the guide will help you get strong enough to complete the adventures that give them to you. Note that AS&P adventures are not completely unavoidable. However, this guide only mentions the essential AS&P adventures. Don't forget to keep doing The Ice Cave for the Ice Shield, and to swap out your Tallys gear whenever you can get better stuff. To finish out your Skills and Powers: Complete Murilmyr's Hunt for 16 AT (Level 40 Necromancy and Level 50 Woodsmanship are adequate). Complete Proving Grounds IV up to 'The Troll Bont' for Weaponry:Troll-Bont. Do Parts 1-3 of Solundor's Grand Ring of Illusion and complete Proving Grounds I to gain access to Saarngard Isle. Do the new tasks from Thane Pyrond that open up, and visit Saarngard Isle to learn Horsemanship and Weaponry:Lances. Complete Proving Grounds V up to 'The Eye of The Storm' to learn Shadow Magic. The following AT sources do not award XP to AS&P (note that you have already done some of these if you've followed this guide): * Adventurer's Guild Bonus (+8) * Silvermark ale (+1) * The Ghost of Deadwater Shoals (+4) * Varkyn's Trick Ring (+24 if you got it, it's a Haunting in Durnsig reward) * A Blizzard in the Hills (only part way, up to An Icy Cave) +4, * Mirew Piperen in Stoneback Tavern (+12), * Crow Hill/Murilmyr's Hunt (+16) * Lord Tarkhald (+4), The Missing Hilt (+4) * Fang Ridge 'lever' cave (+2). This gets you past 72 AT, enough to buy the Rotbane Sword to grind Axepath Cemetery for The Creyn Blade. Once I have the Creyn Blade, I invest my AT into the best available shield to pump my MR. This higher MR let me build to for the Proving Grounds V in order to get Shadow Magic. Note that you can get several ATs in Part 1 of PG V: +2 from "A Kurnok?" For helping the captive and From kurnok cave, and +3 from The Lost Bracelet. Now you can buy Varkyn's Ring Of Motley Wonder for 16 AT and 200,000 gold. If you don't have 200,000 gold, grind the explorables and Axepath and sell your loot. After you get the ring, join the Adventurer's Collective and buy Weaponry:Staves. It would have cost less gold if you had bought it earlier, but gold is not that big an issue. Once you have over 100 MR, you can tackle the first half of PG V to get Shadow Magic. Once you do this, you will have learned all skills and powers and you're free to do all the quests offering big AS&P awards. Old Guide ;Note This guide is badly outdated and is being merged with the new one First Quests #Check the building with a blue door to get your bonuses for joining. If you plan to make a second "better" character but keep the first, DO NOT take the Adventurer's Bonus Pack (which includes 16 Adv Tokens). Just ONE of your characters can have it, so make sure it's the one you're going to play the most. You get, however, the 8 Adv Tokens, 2048 General XP and 2000 gold for being AG as soon as you log in, and can get another 3072 General XP as a "special bonus". You may or may not have the Dragonclaw Amulet waiting for you. If it isn't there yet, it will be after The Caves of Westwold adventure. #Visit Irzynn the Outfitter in Hawklor to get some weapons and armor. #Go visit Irzynn in Durnsig (check Kingdom of Tysa to find locations from now on) to get Goblindoom and the Adventurer's Ring. Equip them, and now you should have around MR 45 and SP 50. #Go to the village market, buy yourself a dwelling and drop there whatever you don't need. If you're AG, sell items at Grutlang's Trading Post in Mirgspil, else at Teek's Battle Shop in Trithik or in Talinus (check Item Selling Guide). #Let's go hunting for Skills. First, visit Blade Square in Trithik to learn Archery from "Criveson's Fur & Fletching". Remember to buy a bow. #While in Trithik, visit the Lyrelocke Monastery, for your first quest and shield. At the end, learn Weaponry and Weaponry:Bashing from Brother Kol. Save. #Do the quest A Cold Winter's Night. Replay it until you get Knight's Leggings, Knight's Helm or Knight's Breastplate. #A boring but necessary task: Have Random Encounters in Trithik (some of them are dangerous at this stage, so save and be careful) until you find a man being pursued by some grey tunnelers. He's Borimm Locksong, and can teach you Woodsmanship. Be sure to revisit him until he refuses to train you anymore (you'll need a total of 208 experience to reach Woodsmanship 20). #Travel to Port Hallik. Do quest. Learn Seamanship by visiting the Eye of the Sea repeatedly (about 7 times). If you continue to visit the Eye your skill will be increased another +2 twice (also seems to be about 7 times for each boost). #Save your game before doing this step. Go to Bentlimb Wood and help the ancient dhormu Toribikk. If you've followed these steps, he will grant you Lore. (If he doesn't, quit without saving and try again.) Use the generous Specific XP to level up Arcana, Lore and Woodsmanship. You can level up Restoration now, too, or wait until you've completed Stoneback Hill and have access to the additional 10% experience bonus granted by the Grey Circle. #Travel to Talinus and learn all available Weaponry subskills in Thofyra's Training Yard for 256 XP each. (Weaponry: Slashing, Weaponry: Hacking, Weaponry: Stabbing, and Weaponry: Polearms). Now you have 14 skills. You're only missing: Horsemanship, Weaponry:Lances (both available at Saarngard Isle, much later), Weaponry:Troll-bont (from PG IV) and Weaponry:Staves (available only through the Adventurer Collective, though there is no clear consensus as to when is the best time to acquire this skill). #Stock up in Blessings of Protection, now you're in Talinus, and save "Salwyn the priest". #Now we must do some quests to start getting XP, AT, and interesting items. In Hawklor, you can do , , , , and . You can also Explore Hawklor, make sure you get the , keep in mind to avoid a small (64 XP) reward to AS&P if you want to do it the purist way. #From this moment you can start grinding at Axepath Cemetery, but just the first two sections (6 undead). This will help you to accumulate some XP and gold. It will be much easier if you level up your Necromancy and Restoration a bit (lv 20-30). Also you can find better equipment. Remember to rest and save often: you're still weak. #Now the first "big" adventure: The Caves of Westwold. This will unlock several interesting adventures, and will give you the Enchanted Map if you didn't have it yet. #As you go through Hawklor you'll find . Visit the Stoneback Inn after Westwold for Mirew Piperen and 12 AT. Avoid mingling among the patrons and meeting the grey-haired man, Jodd Halthen, because he unlocks and that quest is 9+ at MR 60. The old man seated alone is Tasserik, The Golden Knight, who reveals to you the location of a cave in Sageholt, which you should not attempt until much later due to its difficulty. Complete "The Hunted Man" to unlock the Shattered Skull series. #Travel to Wurmwrit Farm and acquire a pumpkin. It will transform into a Grinning Jack-O-Lantern and will unlock Crow Hill. Go to Trithik, follow the dragon and start the quest (you still are not powerful enough to complete it) so it does not annoy you while traveling. #Travel to Durnsig. You can do "Barn infestation" (small reward for your time) and " ." This last one is specially good in terms of equipment. Hint: Spend a little XP to level up Necromancy until level 20, and use it to beat all fights. You will get a lot of Specific XP, useful to level up even further. By now you should be around MR 55 SP 60. #Next up is A Haunting in Durnsig. Historically, there was a timer on the reward that only changed the item once every 90 minutes, but this timer was removed in early 2010. However, you may need to fight the final boss several times to get a desirable reward. See the quest page for more details including history of the quest reward timer. Ultimately, you should settle for one of the following items: #* most players choose either or for the "best" item (stats-wise) #* some prefer to get one of the Nimble items (usually , as that's the one with the best stats) because these items have the Dodge Item Power, which activates at random and allows you to completely avoid taking damage for that combat round. No other items with this power are available in the game (not counting raffle prizes) #* or choose if you want the maximum amount of AT. #After Durnsig, you should start collecting AT. Tend to A Little Matter About An Orb in Hawklor for 4 AT (purist warning: 128 to AS&P), go to Talinus to have for 4 AT and a for a good ring, then go to Trithik and clean (purist warning: 64 XP to AS&P) for 8 AT, help in Deadwater Shoals for 4 AT, beat (purist warning: 128 XP to AS&P) in Sevenhorn for 8 AT, , return only the box for 8 AT and keep the . Now you should have a minimum of 56 AT, plus maybe some AT from seasonal adventures not covered in this guide, 16 AT from the Adventurer Bonus Pack, AT received by donating (if you are restarting) and maybe the . In this guide we'll take for granted only the AT won during the game. If you have more than that, act accordingly. #Beat for nice XP and the opportunity to buy The Hale Blade. You can sell the Golden Cup of Zaafyl if you need gold, it doesn't have a further use. #You can also do (keep the for later) and the first missions of The Silver Crest now. #Now is the moment to unlock several interesting game features by completing Stoneback Hill. With some Restoration (level up with Specific XP from Bentlimb wood and Killing Hand of Winter) and Necromancy (you will have 30+ if you followed my advice about the " " quest) it will be a piece of cake. Second Part: Complete Powers collection and become stronger. #Now for the Powers: Do quests, and maybe even some Grinding, until you amass 15360 General XP. When you reach the needed mark, go to the Grey Circle, and learn 5 powers. This can be done incrementally as you amass the necessary XP, but make sure to learn the 5 powers before gaining additional powers in the next steps (it's cheaper to do it like this). You can get whatever you want except Elementalism. #Do the quest of Daggerspire to get Elementalism, Kozuron's Hood and Ring Of Mystic Ability. You will also unlock the Graldok bazaar (beware of Illiok), second best place to sell your stuff (Check again the Item Selling Guide). #Go to the Murk and do the two missions available there. You will get the last two Powers. Now you have 10 powers (all of them except Shadow Magic). You can now increase by +3 your NvR by reading the Tattered Scroll you got in Stoneback Hill #Now is the time to think big: Do in the Old North Wood for 4+4+16 = 24 AT, 7680 general exp and 512 xp to All Skills and Powers. #If you were going the purist way, do now the AT quests mentioned earlier that give AS&P XP. Now you should have more than 72 AT (between free AT and Tallys Items), so go to Tallys, return equipment until you free 72 AT, and buy the . This blade, lethal to undead, will be your best friend until you get the Creyn Blade. #With Rotbane Sword on your hand, start grinding the Axepath Cemetery. Keep the good armor items, sell the rest, buy Unmatched Plated armor from Gryphook's as soon as you have enough money (start by the belt, you'll keep it almost to the end). The purpose of this grinding is to get . Keep training until you can get to the final arch, retreat, save, and repeat the final fight as many times as needed until you get >250 gold and the Creyn Blade. This can be long, boring and tiresome, so you can alternate between "normal" grinding (straight run to the rewards) and some repeated assaults on Lord Creyn. You can also start confronting the CHR to unlock Moonpath and start making the rest of the low-level quests to amass some XP in the pauses between grinding runs. Don't start running the other grinding spots until your SP rises over 100. Third Part: Collect powerful items and bonuses This section is still under developement #You can do Quest:The Old Cathedral and Quest: A Little Matter About an Orb for gold and item rewards. #Once you have the Creyn Blade, sell back the Rotbane Sword and pick up good items at Tallys. One of the first should be a good shield. #Try to complete as many quests as possible, including the Proving Grounds as your MR rises, in less than 90 days. Before that deadline, free up 72 AT and spend them on a Quickstone. Don't buy the Quickstone before you finish some Proving Grounds for big amounts of AT, because it will save your results from your last 90 days, even as soon as you buy it, so until that moment, your ATs will be better spent on Tallys equipment to help you through the adventures. Now you have your Quickstone, enjoy the impressive bonus from all your accumulated playing experience. #You've also got to contemplate some other necessary or almost necessary AT spendings (RoI, AC, Zumryn's battlegrounds, Residence, etc). When to do all these things is up to you, but I really recommend that you put it all in hold for a while until you complete most of the game's main content (RoI, Runeskin, The Shattered Skull, 7 Goblins, and a lot of other quests). That way you'll have more "free" AT to buy things from Tallys and the game experience will be considerably quicker and easier. #Get one of the Shimmering or Iakor's weapons from Runeskin. Upgrade it at Tarn and 7 Goblins. That will be your best weapon from now on, unless you ##Dedicate to Staves and switch to Tzal-Toalth ##Plan to donate to the game and use weapons from Tallys #Possibly the best "standard" high-end equipment: #*Weapons: #** A Shimmering or Iakor's weapon from Runeskin #** Demonscourge from Runeskin #** Tzal-Toalth from The Shattered Skull #** Trielra's Staff from #** Hale Blade, Creyn Blade and others for bonuses. #*Glittering Ice Shield from Moonpath #*Dragonwing (A Haunting in Durnsig) or Nightsong (PG III) breastplate #*Kozuron's Hood (Daggerspire) for NvR or The Warlords Helm/Iakor's Crown for MR/SP #*Spikefist Gauntlets (The Shattered Skull Part II: Spikefist The Mighty) #*Feet, Arms, Legs and Waist with either Unmatched Plate, Nimble Plate Boots, Nightsong gear, or Dragongem (Tallys) gear. #*Snake's Head Medallion (Saarngard Isle) or Ghor-Tiln's Eye (Cave of Four Spirits) #*Emerald Bracelet (Quest: Gralgarak's Tomb), Assassin's Bracelet (Quest: Lift the Box) or Iakor's Bracelet (Runeskin) #*Cloak Of The Wanderer (Residence) or Iakor's Cape (Runeskin) if you don't want to buy a Residence (however, the cloak is worth the AT spent for the residence). #*Cane-Shaped Pendant (Quest:A Blizzard in The Hills) #*Rynduil's Crimson Tabard (PG V) #*A wide selection of rings, for example: #** Runeskin's Ring (Runeskin), Ring of Long Shadows (Phantom Assassin), Band Of Gruljasa (Tarn) and Ring of Dark Valour (Quest:Retrieve the missing standing stone jewel) for maximum MR/SP #** Runeskin's Ring, Sorcerer's Band (PG IV), Ring Of Mystic Ability (Daggerspire) and Ring of Souls (Hawklor) for maximum NvR #* Other objects #** Phantom Weapon and Armour (RoI) #** Finger of Dread (Tarramyre) #** Wand of Dragonfire (Vault of The Iron Dragon) #** Goblin Totem Block (Fogbough Outer Wood) #** The Bowl of Blood ( ) #** Wisp of Black Mist ( ) So get going and get those incomplete quests done and look around for new adventures... The Adventure Finder, some exploring, the Quest List and the Game Updates will be your friends from now on. You're now really between the most powerful adventurers of this perilous age! References See this post and this thread for the information in which this page was originally based. The Purist Equation (number crunching) The motivation behind the "purist" approach (avoid adventures that give AS&P XP until you have most or all skills and powers) is twofold: If we equal specific experience to General, from a certain quantity X''' of AS&P XP, you get X * (number of skills + number of powers) Plus 10% of the previous quantity for the Quickstone bonus, so we multiply by 1,1. Thus, every time you receive AS&P XP, you "lose" (as in "not receive as much") 1,1 * X * (29 - number of skills - number of powers). As you start with (number of powers + number of skills) = 6, we can calculate the table of "virtual losses" in "equivalent General XP" for each point of AS&P gained in not-purist way. So for example the minimum unavoidable "loss" of the 128 AS&P XP from Stoneback Hill would be equivalent to 3,228 General XP if played right at the beginning, and to an absolute minimum of 986 General XP if played at the last possible moment after getting all skills and powers otherwise available. Big from a certain point of view, but in light of the required amount of the same "equivalent General XP" (at the '''best situation of 30% XP Bonus to everything) to reach certain milestones, not so much. In fact, almost negligible in the long run. ;Examples * From 1 to all 70's: 332,388 for Skills, 774,378 for powers * From 1 to all 80's: 1,261,368 for skills, 2,437,578 for powers * From 1 to all 90's: 4,055,814 for skills, 5,763,978 for powers * From 1 to All Legendary: 11,067,264 for Skills, 12,416,778 for Powers Still, it's your decision. Some play the purist way for a challenge too. Footnotes Category:Indexes